Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks - Villainous Children

Written as part of the weekly blogathon hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Join us (ONE OF US... ONE OF US....) by picking three movies that fit the week's theme and telling us about them! We regular participants don't bite.... HARD....

Continuing the special October Halloween Edition of Thursday Movie Picks, this week's theme is Villainous Children. There are only so many films with actual CHILDREN as the villains, so I stretched a bit for one of them instead of picking two of the really obvious ones. And there was another that I really REALLY wanted to pick, but to do so would completely spoil the end of the movie. So without further ado, here are my eeeeeeevil picks.

Village of the Damned (Wolf Rilla, 1960) One day, all the inhabitants of the village of Midwich, England, fall into a deep sleep in the middle of the day. Some months after they all wake up, all the women of childbearing age are pregnant, and they give birth rather fast, all to beautiful blond-haired children, who have some strange characteristics. Including being able to control the minds of the adults around them. This is one of the creepiest little films I've ever seen - very much a British B-movie from 1960, but incredibly well-acted and well-shot. There's a reason it's become a classic.

Let The Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008) Eli is a sweet little pre-teen just like any other. And she's very sweet to poor little bullied Oskar. But just what is it she and her elderly caretaker do out late in the evenings? The truth is quite chilling, and not just because Alfredson's future classic takes place in a seemingly perpetual winter. This is an absolutely first-rate horror film. So of course Hollywood had to make its own version for people who don't like subtitles. I've heard Let Me In actually isn't bad, but even if you don't like subtitles, you owe it to yourself to see this one...

The Orphanage (Juan Antonio Bayona, 2007) ...and this one even more. Laura moves her family into the orphanage where she grew up in order to start a home for handicapped children, like her adopted son Simón. Simón likes their new house, even drawing pictures of his five new (invisible) friends. Typical kid stuff. But then one day during a party for the new residents and their families, Simón disappears after Laura can't come with him RIGHT THEN to see one of his friends - whom she happened to see later anyway. It'd be hard to miss him, wearing a burlap sack mask and doing nasty things. So she does what she has to to find her son. The Orphanage is a great film, full stop. Scary, deeply felt, perfectly shot and edited, and with a wonderful performance from Belén Rueda as Laura. It's perhaps the saddest horror film ever made, and it also contains the single best jump scare of the past ten years.

Village of the Damned! That and The Bad Seed were the first ones that I thought of but I was pretty sure they'd pop up all over today so I went looking elsewhere but Village is a wonderfully eerie number. I rewatched it last year at Halloween time for the first time in ages and it really holds up. It has that English reserve, perfectly captured by George Sanders, that helps strengthen the story the movie is telling.

I've heard of Let the Right One In but haven't seen it nor The Orphanage. I'm not much of a horror fan but Right One sounds intriguing.

Mine lean more towards suspense than full out horror and one is neither but has a truly odious child at its center.

The Other (1972)-Eerie chiller about identical twins Niles and Holland Perry and a string of "accidents" that befall their family tied to a game they play. Can the game be stopped? Filled with moody dread and excellent acting from the entire cast.

The Children's Hour (1961)-Two young women friends, Karen and Martha (Audrey Hepburn & Shirley MacLaine), run an elite girl’s school with the assistance of Martha’s aunt. One of the girls is a vicious, cruel bully who when she is disciplined for tormenting the other children spreads a lie that ultimately devastates the lives of all involved. Based on a Lillian Hellman play that was considered scandalous in its day. Miriam Hopkins who plays the selfish aunt in this starred in the original watered down, but still good, film version in the 30’s called These Three in the role Shirley MacLaine plays here.

The Innocents (1961)-Deborah Kerr stars as a governess in Victorian England who becomes convinced that the unnerving children in her charge are possessed by evil spirits and sets out to help them. Superb rendition of Henry James's novella The Turn of the Screw with a brilliant, award worthy performance by Kerr.

I hontestly thought The Bad Seed would be EVERYWHERE this week and instead, it's practically nowhere to be found. Rhoda Penmark would be PISSED.

I only saw Village for the first time a little over a year ago and I was super impressed by how damn creepy it is. And you're right, George Sanders is perfect in the lead - I couldn't believe that I almost didn't find him smarmy in any way!

I'll say this about my other picks: I know you're not much of a horror person, and neither am I, to be honest. But give them a chance. ESPECIALLY The Orphanage. Belén Rueda is fantastic as a mother pushed to the brink by her child's disappearance and Geraldine Chaplin gives an effectively chilling performance as a medium. It's scary, but not in a gory or gruesome way, rather in the way of the best ghost stories. Which is really what it is. It is just so well done all around. One of my All-Time Favorite films. Let The Right One In is also really, really good, and outside of a few moments more full of dread and fear than outright scary.

Of yours I've seen and LOVE The Children's Hour - can't believe I didn't think of it, because DAMN that girl is a BITCH on wheels. I haven't seen The Innocents yet, but I adore Ms. Kerr and the beautiful Criterion Blu-Ray is on its way to me as we speak so I will get to see it soon! The Turn of the Screw is such a brilliant piece of writing.

I picked Village of the Damned too! I was watching it and thought Alan Bernard looked a lot like the guy who played Lord Melbury in Fawlty Towers, that's because it was! Never seen him in anything else before that.

I've seen all your picks, The Orphanage is one my favourite Horror films, so moving and creepy. Remind me what the jump scare was?

About Me

Performer since birth, tap dancer since the age of 10. Life-long book-lover. Film obsessive. Frustrated artist since college graduation. Non-profit database specialist by day, tap teacher by night, Netflix binge-watcher by weekend.